Gavin Newsom seeks federal assistance as California prepares for more dangerous storms
Sac Bee, MAGGIE ANGST: "Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Sunday afternoon that he requested assistance from the federal government to contend with dangerous winter storms that have, and will continue to, batter the Golden State.
“We are doing all we can to be as proactive as we can,” Newsom said at a news briefing from the state’s emergency operations center near Mather Field. “These floods are deadly and have now turned more deadly than even the wildfires here in the state of California.”
With another atmospheric river expected to barrel into Northern California late Sunday night, Newsom and a handful of other high-ranking California officials advised residents to be cautious, prepare for flooding and power outages, evacuate when asked to do so and avoid unnecessary travel over the next 24 to 48 hours."
Bay Area storms: Another round of ‘dangerous’ wind, rain expected to hit region
BANG*Mercury News, JAKOB RODGERS/GABRIEL GRESCHLER: "Another windy deluge could send some streams over their banks and cause widespread power outages across the Bay Area over the next couple days, marking the latest salvo from an ongoing parade of winter storms that shows no sign of relenting any time soon.
The latest atmospheric river-fed storm is expected to pack damaging winds and drop several more inches of rain over much of the Bay Area — a double-whammy that forecasters say should peak Monday morning and linger through Tuesday. Even more storms are forecast to make landfall beginning later this week — threatening to further saturate soils during one of the Bay Area’s most waterlogged stretches in recent years.
On Sunday afternoon, Gov. Gavin Newsom implored Californians to avoid driving through flooded roadways and to prepare for even more water in the near future — noting that 12 people had died over the last week and a half due to storms across the state."
With next storm wave imminent, Bay Area mops up and prepares for more
The Chronicle, JESSICA FLORES/JD MORRIS: "As another round of drenching, windy weather bore down on already-hammered California, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sunday asked President Biden to declare an emergency to help with storm response in the state.
Newsom said the emergency declaration would unlock the “full support of the federal government” in the face of yet more fierce storms predicted this week that could lead to more flooding, landslides and power failures on top of last week’s deadly bomb cyclone deluge.
Newsom said he was confident, based on his conversations with White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain, that Biden would declare an emergency."
Gavin Newsom, the sequel: Governor starts second term as leader of liberal America
CALMatters, ALEXEI KOSEFF: "As the sun finally broke through after days of brutal rainstorms across Northern California, Gov. Gavin Newsom marched today across Sacramento’s Tower Bridge and toward the state Capitol with an eye on a second term that could position him as the leader of not only the state but liberal America.
Joined by his family, state legislators, union members and other supporters, Newsom aimed to draw a peaceful — if glaringly political — contrast with “the ugliness that overflowed on January 6th, 2021,” as the governor put it in his inaugural speech later, when supporters of then-President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to overturn the election results.
“In the pursuit of belonging and equal justice, California must be the enduring proof of concept,” Newsom said. “We must reconcile our shortcomings. Bring everyone along in our prosperity. After all, a healthy democracy must be inclusive.”"
‘I’m bringing a CEO mindset’: Q&A with San Jose’s new mayor
BANG*Mercury News, GABRIEL GRESCHLER: "America’s tenth-largest city has a new driver at the wheel — and he’s trying to avoid any distractions along the way.
Forty-year-old Matt Mahan became San Jose’s 66th mayor after his November defeat of Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez. A former schoolteacher and tech entrepreneur, Mahan says the city has too much on its plate and wants to focus on four key issues during his two-year term: homelessness, public safety, blight and economic development."
“I think we have to acknowledge that our current strategies are not delivering the outcomes that we want,” he said during a wide-ranging interview with the Bay Area News Group. “The environment has changed. We need to change up our strategies and our approaches.”
The Chronicle, KEVIN FAGAN: "Sam Quinones, one of the nation’s foremost chroniclers of American drug abuse, took a stroll around San Francisco’s Tenderloin last week to take a hard look at the beleaguered neighborhood’s street addict scene. Like anyone else who’s taken that stroll lately, he saw the brazen fentanyl and methamphetamine use — and the grim consequences of unchecked addiction — that’s become a dispiriting calling card for that part of town.
Nothing much surprised him."
Monterey Bay divers restoring vital kelp forests — the ‘redwoods of the sea’
BANG*Mercury News, ELISE OVERGAARD: "On a recent Saturday morning, scuba divers Keith Rootsaert and Dan Schwartz splashed into the ocean just east of Old Fisherman’s Wharf, the chilly water swallowing the sounds of Monterey Bay as they descended. Upon reaching the seabed, each diver grabbed a spiky purple sea urchin, braced it against a rock and pulverized its center with a welding hammer — all in the name of saving giant kelp.
The divers needed to ensure that the urchins were dead, but they didn’t have time to waste. Their goal was to kill hundreds of urchins apiece before the hourlong dive was over.
“Urchin culling” is an intervention — not a massacre. The intervention is necessary because the urchins are devouring the kelp, which Rootsaert describes as the marine equivalent of California’s redwood forests."
Monarch butterflies elusive during new year count in S.F. Presidio
The Chronicle, SAM WHITING: "A chocolate bar was the prize offered to the first person to spot a monarch butterfly during the annual new year count Sunday in the Presidio, and it did not take long for the challenge to be met. Park Ranger Mia Monroe almost stepped on its brilliant orange wings while walking up the path from the parking lot to Rob Hill where the count was to commence.
“Oh, my God. Magic,” she proclaimed as a dozen volunteers from Nature in the City huddled to examine the delicate creature on Monroe’s clipboard. “This is really exciting. We have at least one.”
There was much hopeful anticipation that there would be more because 22 monarchs had been spotted in the Rob Hill eucalyptus trees during a Thanksgiving count by a Presidio naturalist — and Monroe, who led the hike and handed out the binoculars, was not eligible for the chocolate bar."
Orange Unified's conservative majority fires superintendent with a day's notice
EdSource, JOHN FENSTERWALD: "With one day’s notice during winter recess, a conservative majority on the Orange Unified school board fired respected Supt. Gunn Marie Hansen with no explanation after a closed-door meeting Thursday night.
The vote followed impassioned public comments from parents, teachers and community members who pleaded with them to change their minds on what they anticipated was coming. They warned them of the consequences, including expensive litigation and hundreds of thousands of dollars in severance payments. As the board members were voting, parents began circulating petitions for a recall election that will plunge the 26,000 student district into further conflict.
“Give this time and thought, for your future, our future. This is really ill-thought through move,” said Jeanne Matson, an elementary teacher and resident of the district."
Six takeaways for Californians after the UC graduate student worker strike
CALMatters, MIKHAIL ZINSHTEYN: "The largest higher-education strike in U.S. history — courtesy 36,000 disgruntled graduate student workers and 12,000 other academic employees at the University of California — wrapped up Dec. 23, and depending on one’s perspective, it was either a historic win or a colossal letdown.
The workers got some of what they wanted, and while the UC system hasn’t said how it’s going to afford it, it’s now on the hook to do so. These deals aren’t evergreen — the graduate student contracts last until 2025 — and negotiations on successor deals will likely begin in late 2024.
The graduate union members did get multiple raises through 2024 and roughly 50% increases in base pay, plus promises of transit passes, some dependent child healthcare and other benefits. They did not get extra money to afford sky-high California rents. Out-of-state graduate students still have to pay extra tuition fees, and the child care subsidies are below what they wanted. This has led to dissent in the ranks."
Musk says he can't get fair trial in California, wants Texas
AP, CHRISTOPHER RUGABER: "Elon Musk has urged a federal judge to shift a trial in a shareholder lawsuit out of San Francisco because he says negative local media coverage has biased potential jurors against him.
Instead, in a filing submitted late Friday — less than two weeks before the trial was set to begin on Jan. 17 — Musk's lawyers argue it should be moved to the federal court in the western district of Texas. That district includes the state capital of Austin, which is where Musk relocated his electric car company, Tesla, in late 2021."
Biden inspects US-Mexico border in face of GOP criticism
AP: "President Joe Biden walked a muddy stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border and inspected a busy port of entry Sunday on his first trip to the region after two years in office, a visit shadowed by the fraught politics of immigration as Republicans blame him for record numbers of migrants crossing into the country.
At his first stop, the president observed as border officers in El Paso demonstrated how they search vehicles for drugs, money and other contraband. Next, he traveled to a dusty street with abandoned buildings and walked along a metal border fence that separated the U.S. city from Ciudad Juarez.
His last stop was the El Paso County Migrant Services Center — but there were no migrants in sight. As he learned about the services offered there, he asked an aid worker, “If I could wave the wand, what should I do?” The answer was not audible."
Ted Lieu Points Out Jim Jordan Ignored Subpoena as GOP Threatens More
Newsweek, THOMAS KIKA: "A prominent House Democrat is calling out Representative Jim Jordan, an Ohio Republican, over his past refusal to comply with subpoenas, as he is expected to take over the House Judiciary Committee as chairman.
Representative Ted Lieu, a California Democrat, has taken to Twitter on multiple occasions to remind followers that the GOP lawmaker refused to comply with a subpoena from the bipartisan House select committee investigating the Capitol riot. This, Lieu highlights, runs counter to the GOP's promise to use subpoena power to conduct investigations into their political rivals.
"I will be regularly reminding the American people that incoming [Judiciary] Chairman [Jim Jordan] ignored a bipartisan congressional subpoena," Lieu tweeted Saturday evening."
GOP Rep. Nancy Mace blasts Matt Gaetz as a ‘fraud’ for fundraising off McCarthy Speaker votes
The Hill, STEPHEN NEUKAM: "Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) called fellow Republican House member Matt Gaetz (Fla.) a "fraud" for fundraising off of his efforts to block Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) from winning the position last week.
"Matt Gaetz is a fraud. Every time he voted against Kevin McCarthy last week he sent out a fundraising email," Mace said on "Face The Nation" with Margaret Brennan. "What you saw last week was a constitutional process diminished by those kinds of political actions."
Gaetz was part of a group of up to 20 holdouts that barred McCarthy from becoming Speaker for 14 rounds of voting. Gaetz was among what ultimately became six lawmakers who voted "present" in a 15th round of voting early Saturday that mathematically allowed McCarthy to capture the post after making a host of concessions to far-right lawmakers."
Outgoing Sen. Sasse knows Trump criticism shapes his legacy
AP: "Nebraska's outgoing U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse knows he may be remembered more for his criticisms of former President Donald Trump than for the policies he supported during his eight years in office.
Sasse talked about his political legacy with the Omaha World-Herald as he prepared to leave the Senate Sunday to become president of the University of Florida.
Sasse was a prominent Trump critic who joined with a handful of other Republicans to vote to convict the former president at his impeachment trial after the 2021 Capitol riot. Those criticisms led to Sasse being sharply criticized by his own political party in Nebraska even though Sasse voted with Trump 85% of the time and helped get his three U.S. Supreme Court nominees confirmed."